


It’s a Start

by Cryandia



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Alador Needs a Hug, Emotional Trauma, Gen, Good dad Alador, Hurt/Comfort, Luz is a great listener, Odalia’s a bitch, Socially Anxious Alador, Therapist Luz, relationship trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:01:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27523480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cryandia/pseuds/Cryandia
Summary: Upon stopping by the library for a quick drink, Luz and Alador have a small talk, in which Alador opens up about his issues and reveals the Blight Family’s dysfunction.
Relationships: Alador Blight & Luz Noceda, Alador Blight/Odalia Blight
Comments: 5
Kudos: 69





	It’s a Start

**Author's Note:**

> It started out as a short one shot, mainly because I wanted to see Luz and Alador have a small, wholesome interaction, cuz we don’t see much of those, but oop- it turned into a whole fic, so I hope you enjoy it!

Once stepping into the carpeted floors of the library, Alador began to observe the surrounding area around them. Unlike his former home, the library had noticeable bits of dust along the carpets and bookshelves, but even then, it was still far cleaner than the dusty old bookshops he’s been to before. Outside of the bookkeepers and other staff, the library was only filled with a few other people, filling in just a few of the library’s many tables to sit at.

With a sigh, he looked down at the human girl he was accompanying. He noticed the sparkle in her hazel eyes as she smiles and bounced on her feet, practically asking for permission to explore the place. With a sigh, he nodded, and the girl immediately darted off towards a section of the library; ‘Fiction’, as the sign read. 

They weren’t going to stay there for long, just long enough for the human’s boredom to cure itself and they would back out to scouting eventually. He followed not far behind her, making sure his hood kept his face hidden. 

The bookkeepers didn’t mind Luz, as the girl had informed him beforehand that they allowed her to wonder and read as many books as she’d like, despite being a wanted outlaw, as long as she didn’t disturb the silence. However, if they saw the former head of the Abomination Coven, Alador Blight, hanging around the human, there is no doubt that they would immediately inform the authorities, throwing away their entire plan to topple Emperor Belos entirely. His head would be mounted on a pike if he wasn’t sentenced to petrification first.

Luckily for him, he did not come into town often, unless it was to hold business there. The chances of him not immediately getting identified soothed his nerves, but not by much.

Even though he wouldn’t show it, he can get a bit nervous being walking by himself as well; something he constantly cursed himself for. He’s a grown man for Titan’s sake, he wasn’t in Hexside anymore.

He finally caught up to Luz, who looked up at the large range of books to be chosen from with a look of focus. Humming as she held her chin, rubbing it as if it would help her choose faster. If she was going to be here for a little while, she better make the book count.

Had Alador ever seen someone be so focused at just choosing a book to read? Well, outside of Amity, no.

The more he looked at Luz, the more she reminded her of his youngest daughter. They both obsessed over the same book franchise (“Azure”, was it?), and... 

He frowned deeply as his eyebrows began to upturn. 

He didn’t really know much about Amity... nor Edric... nor Emira...

A pit began to form in his stomach as he grimaced. He really didn’t know anything about his children, yet he was still trying to help them, but how could he help them if he barely knew anything about them?

Now that he thought about it, they have been avoiding him quite a lot ever since he arrived at the Owl Lady’s hideout. They always looked at him with anger, sadness, or just with a lack of emotion (something he has himself to blame for). While he didn’t admit it, it made him feel very unwelcomed. He already knew we wasn’t wanted there and was only used to gain insider’s information, but for some reason, the looks his children have him struck him the most.

He knows he hasn’t been the most attending… or openly caring, father, but he wanted to do something about it. He wanted to prove that he can be just as caring as their mother, and he’s been trying to do so for the past month or so, but no results.

He wants to show that he cares, but he didn’t know how.

He was brought out of his train of thought by a strong tug at his cloak. He looked down, being met with the hazel eyes of the human. 

“I found a good book!” She exclaimed, showing the book’s cover in Alador’s face.

He raised his eyebrow as he read the cover, “‘Otabin’?” He looked down at Luz as if he was asking if she was serious, which, by the looks of it, she was. 

“Yep!” Luz nodded, tugging Alador’s cloak to lead him to one of the library’s empty tables that was away from the entrance and staff table, much to Alador’s relief.

“It’s a short and wholesome book about friendship, what’s there not to like about it?”

“It’s a toddler’s book.” Alador stated, his voice monotone. 

He and the girl sat on opposite ends of the table, he watched as Luz placed the book down and opened it up to the first page.

“So?” She rebutted, “Amity seems to like it and she’s the same age as me, plus, what’s wrong with reading a kid’s book as long as you like it?”

Alador’s eyes widened for a second at the girl’s statement, but not because of the latter, more because of the former. 

Amity liked to read children’s books? 

He knew she read to children at this library, she claimed it was for extra credit, but now he wasn’t quite sure now.

He knew she loved the Otabin book when she was a child, his wife would read it to her and her siblings whenever they would act up to calm them down. It seemed like it was always Odalia the one who comforted them, she was their mother, so it makes sense that she would be naturally caring, but it never clicked the same way it did for himself.

His golden eyes looked down in dejection at the thought of Odalia. He knew she was a bit drastic at times, such as when she came to him about dyeing Amity’s hair the same color as hers or when she convinced him that that Willow girl wasn’t fit for being Amity’s friend during her childhood, but now that he actually knew her motives, not only did it make him angry, it also broke his heart. 

All the lies, claiming it was all for the better of the children, all the red flags he missed… he hated himself for it.

"Are you okay, Mr. Blight?"

He perked his head up to look at Luz, who looked at him with worry in her eyes. Worry for him.

Alador hadn't noticed the tears spilling from his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away with his sleeve, letting out a sniffle as he did. He wasn't the type of man to cry, in fact, he was often described as emotionless, ever since his student days, but he never thought he would be so hurt at the thought of Odalia. She usually made him felt happier, however, ever since the last encounter he had with her about a month ago, it just made him upset. To him, it wasn’t a big deal, as he has been like this practically all his life.

"There's no need to worry about me, human." He said, his voice still as monotone as it was before and his expression falling back to it's blank state, "There was just something in my eye, they don't quite clean this library thoroughly enough."

"Riiiiight..." Luz voice trailed off, and judging by her tone, he knew she didn't believe him.

She set down the book beside her and looked at him, concern still evident in her eyes. "What's bothering you, sir? I know there's a lot going on, but you haven't really talked to us about anything going on in your head."

Alador frowned, avoiding the girl's eyes whilst lowering his head and slouching in his hair, much like a socially awkward teenage boy; which wasn’t far from how he acted sometimes.

The most Alador had been sharing was inside information on the Emperor, but whenever he wasn't needed, he would just sit in the kitchen table or go outside, even tolerating Hooty's rambling, only coming back whenever Eda called him over. 

Amity, Edric and Emira had been staying at the Owl House long before Alador arrived, along with Gus and Willow. However, Luz had noticed the tension in the room whenever Alador was around, especially in the man's children. Eda was a lot harsher than she was with anyone else, even Lilith. The only one who actually talked to Alador with no hostility was Lilith herself, but even then, their conversations were always very stale, as if the only time they've ever talked with each other was when they were in a business meeting, which was probably the case.

Luz hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him properly until now, since he offered to scout the town for any possible guards, and she decided to take this chance to get to possibly chat with him (and to make sure he wasn't a spy). She was precautious of him at first, especially the first time he showed up at the house unexpectedly (Eda almost pummeled the man just with her staff while yelling a lot of colorful insults, luckily she was held back by Lilith, King and herself), but the older witch didn't really seem or feel like a threat to her.

He wasn't much of a conversationalist, or social at all, which made Luz's job of talking to him a lot harder than it should've been. She could see where Amity got it from now. 

Actually, Amity was pretty similar to her dad in a lot of ways, especially in personality; quiet, serious, and quite the temper.

The visit to the library was in hopes of finally being able to talk to him, which is why she tried to make it count. Right now was her chance to finally get him to talk. She wanted to know more about the Blights. She wanted to ask Amity or one of her siblings, and while she did now some stuff about their family, they never touched upon their relationship with their parents.

She didn’t want to push them to talk, but she knew it was eating them up inside, much like how it was eating their father up inside. 

The older elf sighed, finally making eye contact with Luz. He wasn't as scary as he looked before. 

"I was just reminiscing on the last confrontation I had with my wife." He stated, breaking the eye contact and directing his glare back at the table. "I don't know what came over me."

"You're sad about what she did." 

"Of course I am!” 

Oh, hit a nerve...

Alador let out a huff, furrowing his eyebrows, "She betrayed me. She's someone I spent my entire life with ever since I was a witchling, but I don't expect a human like you understand the pain of it." He scoffed.

Luz frowned, suddenly feeling the wave of awkwardness hit her. But she took a deep breath and exhaled, and looked at Alador with a solemn face.

"You're right, I don't know the pain of something like that," Luz admitted, noticing Alador's scowl.

"As expected-"

"But!" She interrupted him, which caught the witch off guard, "I have *seen* someone go through the pain of it all." 

Alador's expression softened a bit, but he still kept his frown. He felt his mouth go dry, but he still had to ask;

"And who would that be, human?"

The girl looked down to the table, twiddling with her fingers and pursing her lips before exhaling sharply.

"My mom." 

The unexpected answer caught him off guard, but Luz proceeded to continue;

"I was really young when it happened, it involved my dad, and I still don't know what happened exactly, but I saw how much my mom was hurting. She would try to pretend everything was fine when she was with me, but I would always hear her cry in her room, and it made me cry too sometimes..." The human paused for a moment, the look of sadness evident in her eyes, "The best I could do to make her feel better was to take her mind off of it, try to make her happy in every way I could, but I was just a young kid and I didn't understand what was happening."

Alador's facade fell, his face morphing into one of pity, finally looking up to look at Luz. He noticed her trying to hold her tears back, but she still kept a serious look, looking at him directly in the eyes. He genuinely wasn’t expecting the human girl to have a sad backstory. It reminded him of his own parents, and although long gone, he could still remember his mother’s cries and his father’s angry telling. 

He sighed, feelinghis stomach turn into a knot, "I'm sorry-"

"No, don't be," Luz interrupted him again, her voice staying firm.

Alador looked at her with confusion, "Then why are you telling me this? Isn't this supposed to be very personal for you or do you not value your own privacy either, human?"

Luz ignored the last comment, "Well, it's to get you to open up."

"Excuse me?"

"I know you thing have been... tense, ever since you arrived at the house," Luz began, "So, when you went out to scout the village, I thought I could make use of that to just, y'know, talk to you. You are Amity, Emira and Edric's dad after all." She finished, giving him a small smile.

However, she noticed his face morph into one of sadness, and she could guess what he was thinking about.

"You're not that close with them, are you?"

Alador keeping his head down was all she needed to answer her own question.

"I'm not exactly close to them as they are with their mother," Alador responded, "Due to being the head of the Abomination Coven, I was often summoned to work and keep those under the coven at bay."

"Why's that? Couldn't they have done it themselves?" Luz asked.

Alador shook his head, "Since the Abomination Coven is one of the most successful tracks out of all the covens in the system, there were new members practically everyday from different parts of the Isles. It was hard to keep track of all of them at once, so I was often there for supervision and order."

"I'm guessing that didn't give you as much time to spend with your kids, huh?"

"No, sadly. I thought the maid staff would be able to handle them, especially with my wife being at home more often than I was. I never had that much time to bond with them, and I suppose that made them not depend on me as much,” He made a pause, biting his lower lip before he continued, “And after learning of their mother’s wicked actions, I realized they didn’t really have anyone to turn to in their own home either…”

Luz listened thoughtfully as Alador continued to open up. She couldn't really believe all that she was hearing; going from Alador's absence and negligence to Odalia's behavior. The thing that made Luz immediately become wary of her was when Alador described the time that she persuaded him into letting her dye Amity's hair, claiming it was so she could be "color coordinated" with her and her siblings. She thought Amity had dyed it to be more like Azura, but it seems like she was completely and utterly wrong. 

She will admit, she was surprised at the many red flags Alador stated, it even made her wonder how did he miss all of them and only realized them until now, but she kept those thoughts to herself, continuing to listen to the former coven leader's rambling.

After the buttload of information dumped onto her, Luz didn't really know how to respond to it. She knew she couldn't fix an adult's issues, she even knew that she shouldn't even try to deal with an adult's issues, but from what she heard coming from Alador, it made her realize something.

Alador was used throughout his whole life. By his wife, his highschool sweetheart, of all people.

He never really saw what Odalia was actually doing, covering his eyes like a blindfold, only realizing it once he was finally away from her.

They stayed in silence for a moment. The Otabin book long been forgotten by Luz, as she had lost her mood to read.

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

The Latina looked up at Alador, who was sulking in his seat, and for the first time, Luz saw him with an actual emotion on his face outside of anger.

Sadness.

She quickly recovered from the sudden interruption, "O-oh, it's no problem, Mr. Blight, you shouldn't be sorry."

"No." Alador denied. "I'm a grown adult. I used to be head of the Abominations Coven. I shouldn't be opening up about my problems to a child. You have enough weight on your shoulders already, I don't need to drag you nor anyone else with my own weight.?

Luz softened her expression, offering a small smile, "It's okay, sir. We all need to let our feelings out from time to time, I know we're in a tight situation right now, but that doesn't mean your feelings aren't important."

She saw Alador's face lightened up, followed by tears welding up at the man's eyes once again, but he quickly wiped him away before they even got a chance to fall, yet they still kept coming.

He hid his face by further pulling down his hood, and covering his eyes with it, but Luz could still see the tears glistening as they rolled down his cheek. 

And for the first time in that day, she saw Alador's lips form a small, genuine smile.

"Thank you, Luz."

Luz beamed at him, "No problem, Mr. Blight."

Alador's teary eyes looked down at the forgotten book, observing the drawing of a pink rabbit with a sow in his hand stitching a book. At the same time, an idea formed in his head.

He looked at Luz, and pointed at the book, "Do you think you could rent out this book, please?"

"I thought you said it was for toddler's." Luz giggled.

Alador chuckled in return, "I know, but I'm sure there's someone else who will enjoy it as well."

Luz's smile grew, she immediately picked up the book and headed over to the counter. Alador followed not far behind. Now that he thought of it, this human reminded her a lot of when Amity was a child. 

He looked at the library around him, he did know Amity frequently visited this place. Maybe he could invite her here sometime. It's been a while since they bonded together. 

Perhaps this talk with Luz could be the start to something brighter, for him and his children.


End file.
